AWFUL COLLIERY DISASTER.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLII, Issue 12955, 26 August 1905, Page 2 (Supplement)

AWFUL COLLIERY DISASTER.

119 MIXERS PERISH IN A WELSH EXPLOSION.

Tn,". worst colliery disaster Wales has expcriencced for 11 years took place on July 11, at No. 2 pit of the United National Collieries Company, Wattstown, Rhondda Valley. The death roll is placed at 119, and among those killed was the manager, Mr. Meredith. He had gone down only a few minutes before the explosion. The men working at No. 1 pit, numbering 800, were brought safely to the surface.

The clay shift had gone down the mine gome time when the explosion happened at twenty minutes 'to twelve, a.m. It took place in what is known as the nine-foot seam in No. 2 pit. 'Hie havoc it wrought was terrible and complete. The sound was like that of the discharge of a park of artillery, and the force of the explosion shook buildings and broke windows hundreds of yards away.

Fragments of machinery were blown from tho month of the pit liko cinders from the crater of a volcano. For the time there was almost, a panic Even to the boldest it was impossible to ascertain immediately the extent of the disaster, for the pit-head machinery was wrecked. Thick, suffocating smoke, too, rolled out in columns to obscure the sunlight of day which a, moment before had boon calm and peaceful. The fumes of •■Che after-damp were overpowering about the mountain slopes, for tho colliery is environed by steep acclivities.

As far as No. 1 pit was concerned reassurance was quickly forthcoming. Amid a scene of most moving excitement and the mingled tears and gladness of tho wives and relatives who had rushed to the neighbourhood every man of the 800 in No. 1 pit was brought safely to the surface. They wondered at the sudden summons which had told fcbem to get into the cages, for they had heard nothing of the explosion which had wrecked the adjacent pit.

Two of the directors of the colliery, Messrs. Hugh and Edgar Watts, who were on the Cardiff Exchange at the time of the explosion, left for the Rhondda as soon as they heard of the disaster, and arrived early in the afternoon, and colliery managers .and amxlioai men came from all parts of the district to lend assistance in the work of rescue. There was no lack of volunteers, and the ventilation was good, for the fan .was working again at quarter-past twelve. i!A rescue party, led by Mr. D. Hannah, ■went down the pit to the nine-foot seam. There they found three Reeves, Dando, and Davies— alive but badly burnt. They were sent up and received medical attention at once, but two of them. Reeves and Dando, soon succumbed. Daado was an Englishman, and sang in a choir.

The body of the manager, Mr. Meredith, Was found not far from where the sinking operations were taking place. These operations were being carried on from the nine,foot seam to the lower measures for trial purposes. It is believed that at this point the gas became ignited, causing the explosion.

The manager of the colliery had evidently gone down to see how the sinking operations ■.were proceeding. He could scarcely have reached the point before the disaster occurred. In fact, he had only left his homo a few minutes before the report of the explosion was heard by his wife and daughters. A time of terrible anxiety followed for Mrs. Meredith, the manager's wife, who would not be comforted by her daughters with the assurance that her husband could not have had time to reach the pit. 11 so happened, however, that Mrs. Meredith's fears were only too well founded.

At the pit bottom six bodies were discovered. The exploring party proceeded along the intake, where they found the bodies of two more men, who were evidently in the net of repairing at the time of the accident. Subsequently the rescuers came across 59 more dead men at the base of the shaft. All had evidently been hard at work when the explosion came. The party continued their journey along the intake until the foul air barred further progress. . . Distressing scenes were witnessed at the pit mouth. A cordon of police was formed around the colliery yard, but they had great difficulty in preventing the relatives from entering. When the terrible nature of the calamity was realised the screams of the women and children who flocked to the spot were heartrending. Doctors arrived on the scene in large numbers, and all available stretchers were brought from neighbouring collieries. a melancholy STORY. Mr. Watts Morgan, who is the miners' agent, told a pitiful story. He was one of a searching party, and came Up grimed from his painful toil in one of the workings, where they found a number of bodies. The men had had time to seek shelter. Some of them had crawled into cavities for protection ere the after-damp assailed them, and they were discovered where death had come to "them, lying peacefully at rest.

" One poor little chap," said Mr. Morgan, "■a mere boy, had crept into a cavity, putting his head at the furthest recess and his feet against a prop. When we saw him he was lying just as though he were asleep. "His arms were crossed upon his breast, to which ho was tightly hugging the water can that every miner carries. It was so pitiful to look on him that not a man ainoag as could keep back the tears." Tie saddest part of the disaster is the number of boys who are killed. Out of the 120 Who were in the pit 40 were lads, and all perished. Some of the bodies were badly '■Shattered, with fractured limbs and mutilated trunks. Others were scorched, the fire 'having burnt away hair and beard, and rent the skin into ribands. The features, blackened with coal dust, were indistinguishable, and! one man was identified only by « tobacco box which he carried in his pocket. The identity of another was almost established by the type of his belt buckle, but. certainly was not arrived at until on his back,were detected the marks of an injury which ho had 1 received in a previous explosion. General sorrow is expressed at the loss Df Mr. Meredith, the manager. He had worked underground as a door-boy, and had risen through various grades to his responsible .position. He was a man of great rapacity, and had much force of character, and he was .universally liked by the men. He had been a rescuer in many previous explosions, and had shown great heroism in the' dangerous Work.

Matthew Davies. the only survivor of the explosion, had stuffed his handkerchief into bis mouth, to which precaution in some aneasure, no doubt, he owes his life. He was very Beverly injured in an explosion Rome three years ago, and had only resumed work a week before this second calamity overtook him.

The saddest scones of all were those which attended tlio bearing homeward of the remains. Little groups might be seen escorting the grim cortege to the house oppressed! by mourning. Some 50 men in decent black marched at the head of the rude stretchers homo on the shoulders of four men. Hidden beneath the coarse pall was the body of a lad of 15. Slowly, solemnly they filed by, every face grave and sad. !THB SOLE SURVIVOR. Davies, the sole survivor, has been able to explain what happened. He was in the lamp-locking cabin at the foot of the shaft when he felt a severe shock and a rush of air. His experience of explosions convinced him that something serious had occurred, '.therefore he wetted his handkerchief with the contents of his tea-can and put it to his mouth and poured tlio rest of the tea on to his jacket, which he threw over his head to keep out. the bad air. His presence of mind no doubt saved his life, for though he became unconscious and knew no more till ho found himself in bed his vitality was preserved by the precautions he took. " One man," said ono of the explorers, "had his jack as if in the very act of taking a drink of water. Bodies lay in all directions—some in the 'gob,' and some under heaps of cinders which had fallen. Only the head of one poor fellow was visible. Then wo came down to where George Perryman lay and his sons with him, and Fred Taylor. We then passed four other bodies, which wo failed to recognise, and came to Albert Uzzell and his sons. The father lay a few yards away from tho two boys, who were locked in each other's arms. We next discovered Thomas Flower with his watch going nine o'clock Wednesday morning, and it went for two hours, (stopping at eleven

o'clock. The watch of Albert Uzzell had stopped about three o'clock. We next proceeded to the face of Albert Uzzell's place to try and make an outlet into Reynolds' heading, but there wits a large fall about twenty yards long, We had to crawl through it. It was a very dangerous place, and if we had touched the top we would have been buried underneath, it was so shaky. We found three bodies there." PATHETIC INCIDENTS. One of the dead miners had taken off his coat and wrapped it round his son, and held him to his bosom to shield him from the blast. In that position the bodies were found. George Uzzcll, with his two sons, was a victim of the disaster. Only three weeks before another son was killed at the colliery by a. fall of roof. By a remarkable coincidence there were at one time three fathers and three sons lying side by side—they were Richard Williams and his son Edwin, John Clancy and his son Charles, John Rees, Pontygwaith, and his son John. A daughter having identified! Williams by his wearing odd stockings, and then her brother, burst into a paroxysm of grief, crying, "Oh, mam, mam"—her mother having died a few years ago. Several footballers arc amongst the victims, including Dewi Williams, Wattstown, Geoff Davies, who played at Ihreequarter for Penygraig, and Idris Williams, 'Ilia husband, father, brother and son of another woman worked at the colliery. The husband alone is left. In one household there were live victims, and there is hardly a family for miles round in which the sound of mourning is notheard. A curious black banner was hung out after the explosion from the window of the headquarters of the Ivorites, a local benefit society. On it were inscribed in Welsh and English the words: " Ivorites, a brother of this Lodge has died." The inquest was opened on the following day, and evidence as to the identification of 27 bodies was given, so that the funerals might take place. WATTSTOWN COLLIERY. The. Wattstown colliery, which belongs to the United National Collieries Company, Limited, is in the smaller of the two Rhondda Valleys, and lies centrally between the junction of the Rhonddas at Porth and the well-known Ferndale collieries. Tho colliery is provided with two shafts about 50 yards apart-—the downcast, which is 425 yards deep, and the upcast, which is about 25 yards deeper. The former is the shaft by which the men go to and from their work. From what is termed the " pit-eye"—that is, the bottom of the down shaft— of the main levels extends in a northerly direction for a distance of about a thousand or more yards, while the main south drift, has been driven for an equally long distance. These main roads, which are about 9ft wide by 7ft high, are intersected by innumerable levels and stalls. The system of working adopted is the " Longwall," the principal feature of which is that the whole of the coal is taken away at once without first subdividing it, tho pillars to be removed at a second working. The output of (lie colliery, which turns out some of the finest Cardiff smokeless steam coal, ie about 1500 tons per day. The mine being fiery the most modern lamps are used, and the mine is systematically watered, and is ventilated by the latest improved fans. It is of interest to note that, although there is a somewhat extensive installation at the colliery, the electrical plant was found intact after the explosion.

mixers' death roll. April 30,1890.—Llanerck Colliery, Monmouth (explosion) 176 Aug. 26, 1892.-Park Slip Colliery, S. Wales (explosion) 116 July 4, -Coombs Colliery, near Dewsbury (explosion) 139 June 25.1894.— Colliery, Pontvpridd ! 286 Jan. 14, 1895.—Colliery at Audlev, N. Staffs (flooded) ... 77 Jan. 27,1896.—Tri0rs Town Colliery, S. Wales (explosion) 57 April 19, 1898.—Whitwick, Leicestershire (explosion) 35 May 24,-Universal Colliery, near Caerphilly (explosion) 81 Sept. 3, 1902.—Aberfcysswg, South Wales (explosion) 16 June 4, 1902.—Dowlais Iron Company's Colliery (explosion) 8 Oct, 2, 1902.— TirpoHtwys Colliery, Pontnewydd, near Newport (fall of cage) ° Feb. 24,1904.— Aldwauke Main Colliery, Rotherham (fall of cage) 7 Aug. 13, 1904.—Ynysddu, Sirhowy Valley, Mon. (collapse of brickwork) 7 Jan. 21, 1905.— Elba Colliery, Llanelly (explosion) H March 10, 1905.—Cambrian Colliery, Glamorgan (explosion) 32 MESSAGE FROM THE KING. The management of the colliery have received the following message from Lord Knollys on behalf of the King:—"The King is anxious to express to you personally, to the widows and orphans, and to other relations of those who have lost their lives in the recent colliery accident, the profound sympathy which he and the Queen entertain for them in the overwhelming calamity which has fallen upon them. Their Majesties feel most sincerely and deeply for them in their great sorrow.—(Signed) Knollys."